Hospital workers are being colour co-ordinated to help patients and visitors work out what job they do.

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust is one of the first trusts in the country to introduce the system.

Matrons, sisters, staff nurses, consultants, doctors, porters, housekeepers and ward clerks now all have their own coloured lanyard with their job clearly printed on it.

Lanyards are the cords people wear around their necks with their security or identity card attached to it.

Doctors will now wear yellow ones, consultants black, matrons purple and ward clerks red.

Trust director of nursing Alice Webster said: “Being in hospital can be a stressful and disorientating experience and patients are often confused as to who is who on the ward.

“The majority of ward staff do wear a uniform but these coloured lanyards with job roles clearly visible because of the colour and are another way to help both patients and visitors distinguish different types of staff.

“We have found they are particularly useful in areas like A&E and intensive care where most staff tend to look the same because they are all wearing blue hospital scrubs.

“This is a simple idea and the feedback from patients has been very positive.”

The trust runs Eastbourne District General Hospital and the Conquest Hospital in St Leonards.